APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY FOR YOGIS FALL INTENSIVE:

Dirty Little Secrets:

Understanding THE SHADOW as a path to wholeness

OCTOBER 27TH-29TH 2017

We often begin yoga as a way to turn towards the Light, the Goodness and the deeper understanding of who we are. Whether we begin in hopes of healing an injury of body, or a broken heart, or unsettled soul, we set out on this journey as a way to remember our wholeness, lighten our beings and feel Good in life and body.

And then…

Somewhere along the path of practice we discover its not all rainbow and unicorns “out there” or “in here”. We see the limitations of a yoga practice. We get injured. We get hurt. We get a broken heart. We become jaded. We get angry. We loose faith. We act out. We ignore. We pretend. We come up with great strategies of non-resolution. We become part of a yoga culture for better and for worse.

What if this was good news for the Path and not taken as fear things aren’t working? How exactly do we carry on once we have seen a glimmer (or a tsunami) of the Shadow in our yoga and ourselves? How do we stay the course when we come face to face with the aspects of ourselves and our communities that shock us, bewilder us and anger us? How do we reclaim our power and proficiency in grounded, rooted and connected ways to ourselves, the Path and Spirit?

These are big questions. This Applied Psychology for Yogis intensive has some answers. Perfect for all teachers, students and practitioners of yoga who are….

Interested in learning about and understanding the Shadow in a grounded non woo-woo way.

Feel at minimum slightly disenfranchised, jaded and skeptical of current yoga culture.

Have specific interested in understanding their own struggles with body image in the presence of yoga.

Are concerned about how bodies are portrayed in contemporary yoga culture.

Have shame, blame or guilt about themselves or another.

Interested in gaining practical, body-centered tools for facing, working with, befriending, and ultimately utilizing the Shadow.

Our time together will involve a deep investigation of the concept known as the Shadow. We will use several theoretical perspectives to understand this essential gift of our psyche and we will spend time teasing out our own shadows and those of our current culture. A key feature of this intensive is its incorporation of both somatic and creative arts as doorways to understanding and empowering ourselves from the unseen and hiding places longing for more attention. With this in mind we will explore the Shadow as a theoretical concept. We will give ourselves freedom and time and compassion to explore these physically in our practice. We will have safe space for constructive dialogue, ritual theater and creative arts to unlock the power held within these unseen places.

Students who take this rave about this particular piece of the curriculum. We laugh. We cry. We explore. We release. We soften our edges and we sharpen our skills.